Rahlfs Capital LLC Invests $2.49 Million in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Rahlfs Capital LLC purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 30,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,494,000. Southern makes up about 2.3% of Rahlfs Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centiva Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 121,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,941,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Southern by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 78,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,037,000 after buying an additional 12,509 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Southern by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 75,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,771,000 after purchasing an additional 10,057 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on SO. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Trading Down 3.8 %

NYSE:SO opened at $89.07 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.